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Live stream of Voting Rights prayer vigil

Erik Hungerbuhler on March 11, 2014 in Voting Rights, Kentucky Voting Rights Bill, General Assembly

Starting at 11:30 EDT, members of the Nia Community of Faith led by Pastor Anthony Everett will be leading a prayer vigil in support of House Bill 70, our restoration of voting rights amendment, in the annex offices of the Senate in Frankfort. We will be streaming live video from the vigil on this page. So please join us, and let us know what you think in our comments.


Live streaming video by Ustream

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Lexington council and mayor vote to table affordable housing trust fund; Central Kentucky KFTC members mobilize

Beth Howard on March 10, 2014 in , Central Kentucky

Rupp Arena is known throughout the state and the nation as the home of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team. For many, Rupp Arena is a symbol of pride and legacy. It can also be a symbol of something else in Lexington: the number of people who cannot afford housing would fill up Rupp Arena twice.

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Great crowd and lots to learn at KFTC’s fifth annual Growing Appalachia conference

KFTC Staff on March 10, 2014 in New Energy and Transition, Sustainable Energy, Big Sandy, workshop

About 190 people attended KFTC’s fifth annual Growing Appalachia conference in Prestonsburg, a record for the one-day event focused on ways people in eastern Kentucky can earn or save money or grow a business through agriculture and clean energy solutions.

“What we are seeing across eastern Kentucky is nothing short of revolutionary,” said panelist Ralph Davis, who manages the Floyd County Farmer’s market. “People are returning to family farming. They are taking ownership of their lives and doing something new. Farming is an act of creation. And it is one of the ways this region can heal.”

Among the crowd were many students and teachers, including 15 middle schoolers from Letcher County, high school students from Floyd County, and college students from the University of Pikeville and Big Sandy Community and Technical College, among others. As a teacher from Letcher County explained, “We are just getting started this year with a garden at our school and have plans to build a greenhouse. We are all learning together and thought this would be a great experience.”

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USDA offers financing for energy efficiency upgrades

KFTC Staff on March 7, 2014 in New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, , Energy Democracy, , Sustainable Energy

Hope installs the fan in the blower door.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently established the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program (EECLP) to level the playing field for investments in clean energy. The same type of financing that has been available to power plants for decades will be available to electric utilities and – by extension – their residential customers.

The USDA’s Rural Utility Service has more than $6 billion to provide low-cost financing to electric utilities that serve rural areas and operate at-cost, such as rural electric co-ops and public power authorities.

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Committee hears testimony on Clean Energy Opportunity Act

KFTC Staff on March 6, 2014 in New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, , Energy Democracy, , Sustainable Energy

KFTC and allies got a chance to discuss the potential benefits of the Clean Energy Opportunity Act during a legislative committee hearing March 6.

Sponsored by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, the bill would create 28,000 new jobs in clean energy over the next 10 years by establishing clean energy standards for Kentucky, according to a study commissioned by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED).

Marzian presented the bill to the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee as a means to generate “jobs, jobs, jobs for our people that have been laid off.”

“I think it’s a real opportunity for the people of Kentucky and for all of us as legislators to help our constituents in this state,” Marzian said.

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KFTC members join historic civil rights march

KFTC Staff on March 5, 2014 in Voting Rights, Restore your right to vote, featured, , Voter Empowerment

KFTC members joined hundreds of others for the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Frankfort.

The march and rally on March 5 in Frankfort brought marching bands, school groups, ally organizations, surviving participants of the 1964 march, and many supporters of House Bill 70.

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Louisville Loves Mountains Week

Martha Flack on February 28, 2014 in Coal and Water, New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, , Energy Democracy, Jefferson County, Fundraiser, , I Love Mountains Day

In early February, the Jefferson County Chapter held Louisville Loves Mountains week, a series of events leading up to the

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Citizen lobbyists educate lawmakers on benefits of clean energy policy

KFTC Staff on February 27, 2014 in New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, , Energy Democracy

KFTC members talked with legislators about the 28,000 new jobs that might be created if Kentucky adopts clean energy standards.

The clean energy lobby day on February 26 was hosted by the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance, a coalition of 54 groups including KFTC, solar installers, housing groups, and others working for clean energy policy in Kentucky.

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Member Voices: "SB 99 is bad news and big trouble"

Mimi Pickering on February 25, 2014 in Economic Justice

Senate Bill 99, known as the AT&T bill, is back to Kentucky, along with a big herd of telecommunications lobbyists.

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Commemorative civil rights rally is March 5 in Frankfort

KFTC on February 24, 2014 in Economic Justice, Kentucky Voting Rights Bill, Western Kentucky

A major civil rights gathering will take place on March 5 in Frankfort as many people come together to mark the 50th anniversary of a historic civil rights march in 1964 led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Everyone who is proud of Kentucky’s historic role in helping to end segregation in the nation and for being the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to have a state Civil Rights Act is enthusiastically invited to participate,” according to a press release from the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.

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